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Wildlife management in Uganda was once the responsibility of the government alone. However, as concern grew about how wildlife management would be achieved without support from district authorities, communities and the private sector, there was the need to involve other stakeholders. This gave birth to the Wildlife Use Rights.

Wildlife Use Rights are some of the ways in which UWA motivates communities to sustainably manage wildlife on both communal and private land. There are six classes of Wildlife Use Rights: hunting, farming, ranching, trading, educational and research and general extraction use rights. This program is based on the principle that economic benefits from wildlife can lead to better custodianship of wildlife resources. Examples of this are Lake Mburo National Park and Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve, where wildlife numbers have increased since the sport hunting program was launched.

Communities in these regions have realized that there are greater rewards from the animal fees paid by the sport hunters than there were from poaching. In addition to the financial benefits, all the meat is left for the communities. In one district, a boarding primary school was funded by sport hunting.

For more information about the Wildlife Use Rights and the Uganda Wildlife Act, you can download the full pdf here.